As bad of a reputation Alitalia airline has, I have to say I have flown with them every year since being stationed in Naples from Naples to Miami and never had a problem, delay or lost my luggage. I have never shipped a pet so I cannot respond to that but, the airline itself for me was good for my family.

We flew our pets with Delta Cargo into Rome. Customs took about 1-2 hours, but, everything was fine. It was just more of a process than them being slow, for once! If you are checking your pet in as checked baggage, it is a lot simpler from what I hear. Also, Cheryl is right. Alitalia is not THAT bad. It is not Lufthansa by any means but out of the 10+ times we've flown them, we only had one really bad delay and no missing luggage. Perhaps we are just lucky?